“Chippy” is a word coined specifically to describe games like the one played between the Poly Jackrabbits and the Cabrillo Jaguars Friday evening in the Palmer Pavilion.  Two players fouled out, seven technical fouls were whistled, and there were another two ejections.  After the sawdust had settled, the ‘Rabbits stayed undefeated at the top of the Moore League, winning 71-51.

Julian Camper led Poly in scoring with 13, while Michael Mayes and Shelton Boykin (the Jackrabbit who fouled out) each put in 12.  Dorion Hilliard led the Jaguars in scoring with 20+ points—Cabrillo’s first-year coach, Jim Nielsen, was one of the two ejected from the game (along with Poly’s senior guard Ronald Nezey). 

“Yeah that was the first time in 28 years of coaching,” said Nielsen of his ejection.  “I think (the chippiness) is because these schools are rivals, just down the street from each other.  They’ve got that tradition of winning here, they’ve got the history.  We’re trying to get that.”

“It’s the closeness of the two schools,” said Poly head coach Sharrief Metoyer.  “A lot of the kids know each other.  They come here with a lot of pride and try to earn respect—they’re not going to back down.”

After the game, Poly stays unbeaten at 5-0, while Cabrillo is now 0-5.  Poly will next visit Compton on Wednesday, while Cabrillo will host Lakewood on Friday.